Steviol glycoside

ABSTRACT

Nobel Stevia Sweetening components are provided. Through the analysis of the components of the nobel Steviol Glycoside included in the stevia extract and/or crystals, not only the quality control of sweeteners, but judgment on the correctness of indication of origin or infringement of right are facilitated since the raw material of the sweetener can be identified.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a novel Steviol Glycoside, a sweetener containing Rebaudioside A and the novel Steviol Glycoside, which is included in the variety Stevia rebaudiana bertoni containing a high content of Rebaudioside A, a method of manufacturing food, pharmaceuticals, non-pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, confirmation of Stevia varieties and analytical method of the novel Steviol Glycoside.

BACKGROUND ART

Stevia is a perennial plant of the Asteraceae family grown in Paraguay, South America. Its scientific name is Stevia rebaudiana bertoni. Stevia contains components, whose sweetness is 300 times or more than that of sucrose and is planted to be used as a natural sweetener after extracting the sweet components.

Stevioside (C₃₈H₆₀O₁₈), Rebaudioside A (C₄₄H₇₀O₂₃). Rebaudioside C, D and E, Dulcoside A etc. have been known as sweet components of Stevia. In the generally planted Stevia variety, Stevioside (hereinafter ST) is the major component among the aforementioned sweet components, with a contained amount of Rebaudioside A (hereinafter RA) of around 40 weight % content and that of Rebaudioside C being slightly less. But depending on the variety there are various types such as those with Rebaudioside C being the major component.

Because ST has a degree of sweetness of 300 times that of sucrose, it has been widely used in the food industry as a natural sweetener. Its sweetness is relatively similar to that of sugar, but it is known that compared to RA an unpleasant taste of bitterness remains in the mouth. Compared to this, RA has good quality of sweetness, with a degree of sweetness from 1.3 to 1.5 time that of ST, so in general a sweetener of Stevia with a high RA content ratio is desirable rather than ST. The inventors of the present invention carried out plant breeding through the repetition of selective cross fertilizations of conventional varieties, thereby obtaining only Stevia varieties with very few amounts of ST compared to RA, developing sweeteners from these varieties (see Patent Literature 1 for example).

However, among the tastes such as bitterness, astringency and smoothness to the tongue, the smooth taste is quite delicate. This delicate smoothness does not rely upon the ratio between ST and RA alone. When glucose is added to the chemical structure of the various sweet components contained in Stevia, the smooth taste is improved and a method has been developed to improve the smooth and strong tastes by structurally adding glucose to the sweet components of Stevia (Patent Literature 2 and 3).

Thus, even if the content amount is small, it is very important to analyze the unknown components contained in Stevia, in particular to grasp the components in which glucose is structurally added rather than ST, and it is extremely important to execute a careful examination of the glucose structurally added to them from a perspective of taste-quality control.

Simultaneously, as the taste quality is influenced by the sweet components included in the raw material plants themselves, it is important to grasp thoroughly the sweet components in order to develop excellent Stevia varieties and use them. From now on, raw material plant improvement of breed will probably become very popular, but it will be possible to grasp in details the results of the breed improvement by specifying diligently the sweet components contained in the plants developed.

On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention developed a method for establishing a variety for plant varieties newly developed by using genes (Patent Literature 4 and 5), but actually there were no means of specifying the raw material plants regarding the sweetener extracted and processed from these raw material plants and the products which make use of them.

[Patent Literature 1] Laid Open Patent Publication JP2002-262822 Gazette [Patent Literature 2] Patent Publication JP1957-18779 Gazette [Patent Literature 3] Laid Open Patent Publication JP1997-107913 Gazette [Patent Literature 4] Laid Open Patent Publication JP2003-009878, Gazette [Patent Literature 5] International Patent Publication of Patent Cooperation Treaty-PCT WO06/093229 Gazette DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved

Five components of the stevia sweetener (ST, RA, Rebaudioside A, Dulcoside A and Steviol Bioside) have been analyzed and standardized, but there was no knowledge on the other unknown components. In addition, there was no way to confirm their presence even for the sweet components already known, since there was no established analytical method. However, recently the JECFA standard has been set for 7 components of Steviol Glycoside, the sweeteners contained in Stevia have been confirmed and the unknown components clarified, along with the awareness on the importance to know the influence of the delicate taste from these components.

The purpose of the present invention is to define the structure of the small quantity sweeteners contained in the Stevia variety and to confirm their influence on the taste for Stevia sweetener.

Also the other purpose is to provide the measures for specifying the Stevia plant, which became a raw material, regarding Stevia sweetener and the products which use it.

The inventors of the present invention have searched new Steviol Glycosides contained in the Stevia variety, main component of which is RA, and discovered 10 components of the novel Steviol Glycosides which may have a subtle influence on taste quality. After then they completed the present invention by discovering that there was a difference in content volume of these components among varieties, and certain components were present only in the specified Stevia varieties which had RA as their main component followed by confirmation that it was possible to use this as a marker of sweetener originated in such plants.

Effects of the Invention

Steviol Glycosides of the present invention have structures in which more glucoses are added than ST or RA and therefore provide a Stevia sweetener having an excellent strong taste.

Besides, it is possible to suppose the origin of the raw material by confirming Steviol Glycoside X in the extract or the crystals, and analysis of the final product enables to judge if the raw material plant is opposed to rights such as patent and others.

The Best Mode for Embodying the Invention

The Stevia variety with RA as main component mentioned in the present invention is a variety which contains more RA content than ST, and described in the applications for patent JP2001-200944 and JP2007-506004; the extract obtained from dry leaves has more RA content than ST and also contains Rebaudioside D (R-D), Steviol Glycoside III, V, VI, VII and X, making it possible to obtain an excellent sweetener of strong taste by containing the component in which more glucoses are structurally added than ST and/or RA.

In addition, it is possible to efficiently obtain highly pure RA sweetener containing a trace amount of ST and Steviol Glycoside X by recrystalization.

The first embodiment of the present invention is Steviol Glycoside of the formula I to X:

wherein R₁ and R₂ are a hydrogen atom or a sugar chain defined in the next table;

No. (Steviol Glyciside) R₁ R₂ I (Dulcoside B)

H II β-glc-β-glc(3→1) β-glc (Rebaudioside G) III (Rebaudioside I)

β-glc-β-glc(3→1) IV (Rebaudioside H)

β-glc V (Rebaudioside L)

β-glc VI (Rebaudioside K)

β-glc-β-glc(2→1) VII (Rebaudioside J)

β-glc-α-rha(2→1) VIII (Rebaudioside M)

IX (Rebaudioside N)

X (Rebaudioside O)

The symbols in the formula are the sugar below:

glc: D-glucopyranosyl

rha: L-rhamnopyranosyl

xyl: xylopyranosyl

The second embodiment of the present invention is an extract containing Steviol Glycoside X (Rebaudioside O), obtained by extracting a plant body of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni, a plant of the Asteraceae family, or its dry leaves, a main component of which is Rebaudioside A, by water or a solvent containing water.

The third embodiment of the present invention is a method of obtaining highly pure Rebaudioside A containing Steviol Glycoside X (Rebaudioside O) through the recrystalization of the extract of the aforementioned embodiment.

The fourth embodiment of the present invention is a manufacturing method for foodstuff, in which the extract of the second embodiment above is added to food in an amount of equal to or less than 1% of the food.

The fifth embodiment of the present invention is a manufacturing method for foodstuff, in which the highly pure Rebaudioside A obtained in the third embodiment above is added to food in an amount of equal to or less than 1% of the food.

In the extract obtained from the raw material variety, whose main component is ST, there is no Steviol Glycoside X, but as the extract obtained from raw material varieties, whose main component is RA, has Glycoside X, it is possible to judge the raw material variety by whether the main component is ST or RA. That is, as there is no Glycoside X in the extract containing RA as a main component, which is obtained by eliminating ST by crystalization through the extract obtained from varieties whose main component is ST, or in the high purity products obtained from their recrystalization, it is possible to confirm the raw material varieties. The sixth embodiment of the present invention is the method for confirming Stevia varieties by Steviol Glycoside X.

The seventh embodiment of the present invention is an analitical method of the Steviol Glycosides I-X through high performance liquid chromatography (hereinafter HPLC).

In order to accomplish these objectives, the inventors of the present invention extensively studied the sweet components included in the varieties whose main component is RA and the varieties of applications JP2001-200944 and JP2007-506004, found new sweet components and determined their chemical structure. In addition, they confirmed the usefulness of these components as sweeteners and completed the analytical method and confirmation method of varieties through these varieties.

The confirmation of the new components was executed through extraction by water or solvent containing water of the varieties whose main components was RA as in the Example 1 (hereinafter called Variety A) and the dry leaves of applications JP2001-200944 (hereinafter called Variety B) and 2007-506004 (hereinafter called Variety C).

After that, the extract solution is directly concentrated, or if necessary, ionic impurities are removed with an ionic exchange resin or a cationic exchange resin, or activated carbon, the sweetening components are allowed to be absorbed into an absorption resin, followed by the elution with a hydrophilic solvent, and if necessary the elute is concentrated and dried and the eluant retreated with an ionic exchange resin or a cationic exchange resin, or activated carbon, and the extract thus obtained or the extract obtained through an appropriate purification means of conventional art such as discoloring can be confirmed.

The novel Steviol Glycosides of the extract RA-C obtained from the Example 1(1) described hereinafter were separated and analyzed by a device of High performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) according to Example 5 and each Glycoside structure I-X:

wherein R¹ and R² are respectively a hydrogen atom and the aforementioned sugar chain, was determined.

Steviol Glycoside I (Dulcoside B) is a glycoside with a structure of 788 molecular weight, as confirmed by about minutes of chromatograph Retention Time (hereinafter R.T.) of the HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside II (Rebaudioside G) is a glycoside with a structure of 804 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 15 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside III (Rebaudioside I) is a glycoside with a structure of 1112 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 28 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside IV (Rebaudioside H) is a glycoside with a structure of 1128 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 29 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside V (Rebaudioside L) is a glycoside with a structure of 1112 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 34 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside VI (Rebaudioside K) is a glycoside with a structure of 1112 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 34 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside VII (Rebaudioside J) is a glycoside with a structure of 1128 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 34 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside VIII (Rebaudioside M) is a glycoside with a structure of 1290 molecular weight, as confirmed by duplicating Rebaudioside D by about 34 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside IX (Rebaudioside N) is a glycoside with a structure of 1274 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 43 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

Steviol Glycoside X (Rebaudioside O) is a glycoside with a structure of 1436 molecular weight, as confirmed by about 51 minutes of R.T. of HPLC in FIG. 1.

However, anyone skilled in the art will understand that the R.T. mentioned above from the analysis using gradient elution is variable.

As mentioned above, it provides with important information for the identification of the raw material variety whether Steviol Glycoside X is present or not in the final product.

Simultaneously, since it is possible to confirm these novel Steviol Glycosides through HPLC, even in case they are used as sweeteners, quality and taste may be totally controlled with ease by HPLC analysis.

The extract or crystals obtained may be used as sweetener in candies, jellies, powder beverages, instant noodles, jams, frozen fruits, chewing gums, Japanese sweets, health foods, chocolate, tabletop sweeteners, fried sweets, delicacies, water boiled foods, fermented lactic-drink, coffee drinks, cocoa drinks, tea drinks, liqueurs, wines, sherbets, cereals, vegetable fiber-containing foods, sauces, soy sauce, soy paste, vinegars, dressings, mayonnaises, catch-up, curry, soups, rice sweets, arare, breads, biscuits, crackers, pancake mix, canning fruits, canning vegetables, meat products, products made with boiled fish paste, salt foods, pickles, combined seasoning, luxury foods, cosmetics, etc, resulting in calorie decrease, sucrose reduction, melting point decrease, improvement of sweetness quality and masking effect, among others, also being possible to be added to other natural and artificial sweeteners and solvents.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Manufacturing of RA Extract (1) Extract

100 g of dry leaves obtained from varieties A, B or C, whose main component is RA, was extracted several times with 20 times amount of water by weight until the sweetness cannot be tasted. The extract was passed through a column filled up with 300 ml of absorption resin (Diaion HP-20) and the sweet components of the extract were absorbed to the resin, which was sufficiently washed with water, and the components were eluted with 900 ml of methanol. The eluate was passed through a column filled up with 200 ml of ion exchange resin (Diaion WA-30), 10 g of activated carbon was added to the eluate and stirred. The mixture was filtered, the filtrate was concentrated and the residue was dried to give 13.0 g of RA-A extract, whose main component is light yellow Rebaudioside A (ST 35.4%, RA 41.7% and RC 9.8%), 11.5 g of RA-B extract (ST 19.5%, RA 58.1% and RC 8.8%) and 12 g of RA-C extract (ST 5.4%, RA 72.3% and RC 8.1%) respectively.

(2) RA Recrystallization

Each 5 g of the aforementioned RA-B extract and RA-C extract was dissolved in 10 times the weight of 90% methanol under heating, and it was left stand at 4° C. for six days. The resulted crystals were separated, washed with cold methanol and dried under reduced pressure to give 3.9 g of white RA-B crystals (ST 0.2%, RA 95.0% and RC 0.2%) and 4.5 g of RA-C Crystals (ST 0.2%, RA 95.6% and RC 0.1%) respectively.

Example 2 Manufacturing of ST Extract

For comparison purposes, the same procedure was carried out as to a variety, the main component of which is ST, to give 11.3 g of ST extract (ST 51.9%, RA 23.7% and RC 7.4%).

Example 3 RA-A Mother Liquid, ST Mother Liquid

Each 10 g of the aforementioned RA-A extract and ST extract was dissolved in 10 times the weight of 90% methanol under heating, and it was left stand at 4° C. for six days. The resulted crystals were separated, washed with cold 98% methanol and dried under reduced pressure to give 2.1 g of RA-ST crystals, which are white crystals of stevioside, and 3.8 g of ST-ST crystals respectively.

Each of 8.8 g of RA-A mother liquid (ST 15.7%, RA 43.8% and RC 6.9%) and 6.1 g of ST mother liquor (ST 20.0%, RA 37.1% and RC 11.2%), whose main component is RA, is concentrated and dried to give a powder of mother liquid, whose main component was a pale yellow RA respectively.

Example 4 RA-A Crystal, ST-RA Crystal

Each of the mother liquid powder of Example 3 was dissolved in 10 times the weight of 90% methanol under heating and left stand at 4° C. for six days. The resulted crystals were separated, washed with cold 98% methanol and dried under reduced pressure to give 2.2 g of white RA-A crystals (ST 1.6%, RA 90.4% and RC 1.4%) and 1.2 g of ST-RA crystals (ST 1.6%, RA 96.9% and RC 1.4%) respectively.

Example 5 Structural Determination of Steviol Glycosides

As described below, analysis was performed by using HPLC. Separation of the Steviol Glycosides included in each extract was carried out by using Shimazu LC-10Advp HPLC using a column of TSKgel Amide-80 (4.6×250 mm Tosoh). Acetonitril-water was used as a solvent and a gradient elution in which the ratio of acetonitril:water was changed from 82:18 to 66:34 within 60 minutes was carried out. The flow rate was 0.65 ml/min, the column temperature was 40° C. and the detection was performed at ultraviolet absorption of 210 nm.

In the measurement of molecular weight, Waters' Alliance HPLC System 2695 and Waters' Quattro micro (triple quadrupole mass) equipped with electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometer were used. As to HPLC, a column was TSKgel Amide-80 (2.0×250 mm, Tosoh), acetonitril-water was used as a solvent and a gradient elution in which the ratio of acetonitril:water was changed from 82:18 to 66:34 within 60 minutes was carried out. The flow rate was 0.2 ml/min, the column temperature was 40° C. Nitrogen gas was used as a desolvation gas and argon gas was used as a collision gas. As a capillary voltage, 15.0 kV were used in the Steviol Glycoside analysis in the negative mode and in the analysis of ABEE-oligosaccharides 13.5 kV were used in the positive mode. A voltage of 10V to 80V was used as the cone voltage and the collision voltage at the time of MS/MS analysis. The source temperature and desolvation temperature were 100° C. and 400° C. respectively and the flow volume of cone gas and desolvation gas were 50 l/hr and 900 l/hr respectively.

The results of HPLC Analysis regarding each extract and crystal were illustrated in FIGS. 1-10.

The analytical results of each chromatography peak shown in FIGS. 2-10 were shown in the following Table 1-9.

TABLE 1 Crystals RA-A CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 4.857 6932 486 0.2192 Stev mono 2 8.817 1467 107 3 9.603 2029 124 0.0642 Rubuso 4 10.244 3630 214 5 11.065 12106 605 6 14.763 14947 397 0.4726 Rebau B 7 16.782 58617 2320 1.8535 Stev 8 18.901 35984 1440 1.1379 Rebau C 9 19.984 23401 820 0.7400 Rebau F 10 23.334 2971977 97370 93.9772 Rebau A 11 28.648 4872 191 0.1541 Rebau E + III + IV 12 34.608 5912 174 0.1869 V + VI + VII 13 35.531 28131 892 V 0.8895 Rebau D + VIII 14 37.222 5390 185 15 42.731 6943 222 0.2195 IX 16 51.166 2700 88 0.0854 X TOT 3185038 105635 100.0000

TABLE 2 Crystals RA-B CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.098 1307 246 2 2.309 675 139 V 3 2.833 7713 1426 4 4.775 3286 244 5 13.518 91704 3965 2.8021 I 6 14.834 14854 462 0.4539 Rebau B 7 16.077 1125 54 8 16.8 747 88 9 17.034 9460 352 V 0.2891 Stev 10 18.601 2647 110 11 19.157 7685 314 V 0.2348 Rebau C 12 20.268 20421 652 0.6240 Rebau F 13 23.663 3106124 102260 94.9097 Rebau A 14 27.533 2882 95 15 29.043 5444 210 0.1663 III + Rebau E + IV 16 31.461 2828 91 0.0864 17 35.959 8128 282 0.2484 Rebau D + V + VI + VII 18 37.696 6165 183 19 43.225 4259 120 0.1301 IX 20 51.644 1807 53 0.0552 X TOT 3299261 111346 100.0000

TABLE 3 Crystals RA-C CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.335 15257 2745 2 3.398 2074 247 3 4.436 3292 209 4 9.657 51969 2355 1.6822 Rubuso 5 14.351 4502 107 0.1457 Rebau B 6 16.175 5072 189 0.1642 Stev 7 18.192 2634 88 0.0853 Rebau C 8 19.366 13008 474 0.4211 Rebau F 9 22.682 3002254 98794 97.1825 Rebau A 10 34.744 4564 160 0.1477 V + VI + Rebau D + VII + VIII 11 36.455 3018 96 0.0977 12 41.927 1880 67 0.0609 IX 13 50.485 393 17 0.0127 X TOT 3109917 105548 100.0000

TABLE 4 Extract RA-A CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.646 12581 1924 2 3.502 1786 313 3 3.715 5140 389 V 4 4.411 36010 2058 V 5 4.64 18976 2043 V 6 4.904 94086 5839 V 1.3702 Stev mono 7 5.683 42933 1608 V 8 6.108 9264 666 V 9 6.642 30742 778 V 10 7.192 23108 906 V 11 7.736 52867 2210 V 0.7699 Stev bio 12 8.292 22402 750 V 13 8.831 44958 2378 V 14 9.615 104428 4765 V 1.5208 Rubuso 15 10.262 92646 4531 V 16 10.917 33787 1420 V 17 12.778 63372 2978 0.9229 Dulco A 18 13.466 12776 658 V 0.1861 I 19 14.821 47594 1672 0.6931 Rebau B 20 16.812 2795705 107308 40.7133 Stev 21 18.95 683621 23300 V 9.9554 Rebau C 22 20.017 130330 3792 V 1.8980 Rebau F 23 22.017 4444 192 24 23.385 2759980 90911 40.1931 Rebau A 25 26.082 15240 516 26 28.592 5443 144 0.0793 27 29.425 6048 234 V 0.0881 III + Rebau E 28 30.066 29426 961 V 0.4285 IV 29 33.96 10732 419 0.1563 V + VI + VII 30 35.559 51215 1667 0.7458 Rebau D + VII 31 42.755 15644 462 0.2278 IX 32 51.175 3535 108 0.0515 X TOT 7260819 267900 100.0000

TABLE 5 Extract RA-B CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.136 1244 231 2 2.862 8119 1484 3 4.411 37288 2536 4 4.634 25374 2584 V 5 4.889 113717 7669 V 3.2793 Stev mono 6 5.766 57184 1940 V 7 6.666 16138 503 V 8 7.319 34921 927 V 0.3964 Stev bio 9 7.917 13888 628 V 10 8.533 19410 741 V 11 8.887 44852 2585 V 12 9.35 16370 1111 V 0.4751 Rubuso 13 9.71 81099 3752 V 14 10.339 81250 3739 V 15 12.183 4543 172 16 12.941 26992 1213 V 0.5187 Dulco A 17 13.658 35796 1693 V 0.7239 I 18 15.012 62182 2088 0.8928 II 19 17.039 1579831 61299 26.2115 Stev 20 19.212 630967 21477 V 9.1836 Rebau C 21 20.303 129387 3817 V 1.6322 Rebau F 22 23.721 3953586 128495 S 54.9446 Rebau A 23 26.44 11802 359 T 24 29.088 9888 346 25 29.817 9663 299 V 26 30.449 17347 602 V 0.2574 Rebau E + III + IV 27 32.984 10425 265 28 34.415 15693 537 29 35.159 18016 574 V 0.2454 V + VI + VII 30 36.025 68454 2067 V 0.8839 Rebau D + VIII 31 37.749 4538 157 32 43.275 20100 626 0.2677 IX 33 51.757 7320 205 0.0877 X TOT 7167384 256711 100.0000

TABLE 6 Extract RA-C CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.183 616 134 2 2.597 10175 1537 3 3.437 1414 323 4 4.46 13740 1017 5 4.642 6308 820 V 6 4.906 54449 4098 V 0.8853 Stev mono 7 5.721 9947 485 V 8 6.06 3281 277 V 9 8.264 25348 701 10 8.844 16133 1093 V 11 9.66 34116 1479 12 10.275 34888 1821 V 0.5673 Rubuso 13 10.799 10225 529 V 14 11.829 144125 5701 15 12.826 9263 377 V 0.1506 Dulco A 16 14.874 129304 2644 2.1024 Rebau B 17 16.871 437696 17109 V 7.1167 Stev 18 19.001 472663 16510 7.6852 Rebau C 19 20.078 99978 2988 V 1.6256 Rebau F 20 23.439 4700591 156131 76.4290 Rebau A 21 26.161 6575 216 22 28.759 19933 692 23 29.523 16030 496 V 0.2606 Rebau E 24 30.192 4314 195 V 0.0701 III +IV 25 32.915 22341 361 0.0000 26 34.044 20210 662 V 0.3286 V 27 34.784 37467 1171 V 0.6092 VI + VII 28 35.637 82080 2479 V 1.3346 Rebau D + VIII 29 42.833 32965 977 0.5360 IX 30 51.265 18371 536 0.2987 X TOT 6474546 223559 100.0000

TABLE 7 Extract ST CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.626 7139 1183 2 3.325 824 127 3 3.683 3069 423 V 4 3.836 9867 1104 V 5 4.1 20804 2418 V 6 4.432 158950 6323 V 7 4.898 244425 14003 V 3.2613 Stev mono 8 5.679 171018 7277 V 9 6.067 36443 2486 V 10 6.567 84143 3356 V 11 6.833 59479 3255 V 12 7.702 364999 10439 V 4.8701 Stev bio 13 8.831 50633 2395 V 14 9.622 121367 5308 V 1.6194 Rubuso 15 10.283 61202 2776 V 16 10.651 82679 3615 V 17 12.789 172505 7512 2.3017 Dulco A 18 13.476 39377 1734 V 0.5254 I 19 14.117 9126 325 V 20 14.843 56080 1517 V 0.7483 Rebau B 21 15.883 18828 574 V 0.2512 II 22 16.837 4190811 160109 SV 55.9165 Stev 23 18.317 837 72 T 24 18.961 471940 16634 V 6.2969 Rebau C 25 20.03 96159 2847 V 1.2830 Rebau F 26 22.021 11777 430 27 23.407 1635704 52768 SV 21.8246 Rebau A 28 26.087 18075 573 T 29 30.114 37321 1256 0.4980 Rebau E + III + IV 30 34.028 11847 362 0.1581 V + VI + VII 31 35.633 28790 851 V 0.3841 Rebau D + VIII 32 42.867 4616 125 0.0616 IX TOT 8280834 314177 100.0000

TABLE 8 Crystals ST-ST CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.64 20368 3347 2 3.342 792 150 3 8.16 199715 8553 4 9.579 28792 1602 0.7198 Rubuso 5 13.436 6892 362 0.1723 I 6 16.763 3809949 146224 S 95.2514 Stev 7 19.017 113 63 T 0.0353 Rebau C 8 21.883 3078 108 0.0770 Rebau F 9 23.323 138456 4564 V 3.4615 Rebau A 10 26.007 6455 215 11 30.02 11309 367 0.2827 Rebau E + III + IV TOT 4227219 165555 100.0000

TABLE 9 Crystals ST-RA CH PKNO T A H MK IDNO CONC N 1 1 2.567 11398 2039 2 3.19 846 174 3 11.629 43279 1893 4 14.703 13970 400 0.4290 Rebau B 5 15.927 1715 79 6 16.885 7321 220 0.2248 Stev 7 18.961 4537 192 0.1393 Rebau C 8 20.055 9706 413 0.2981 Rebau F 9 23.428 3204919 106088 98.4203 Rebau A 10 28.744 5579 170 0.1713 Rebau E + III + IV 11 33.32 4707 121 0.1445 V + VI + VII 12 35.603 4198 146 0.1289 Rebau D + VIII 13 42.8 1422 45 0.0437 IX TOT 3313597 111980 100.0000

The abbreviations used in the tables above are as follows:

PKNO: Peak Number

T: Time (minutes)

A: Peak area

H: Peak Height

CONC: Concentration (%)

N: Glycoside's Name

TOT: Total

Stev mono: Steviol monoside

Stev bio: Steviol bioside

Rebuso: Rubososide

Rebau: Rebaudioside

Stev: Stevioside

Dulco: Dulcoside

The concentration is calculated from the total area of the ultraviolet absorption spectrum at 210 nm, and it is necessary to correct the molecular weight in order to measure the volume contained. I to X in the chromatograph chart indicate the novel Steviol Glycoside I to X.

Example 6 Evaluation of Taste Quality

0.05% aqueous solution of each extract and 0.03% aqueous solution of the crystals were evaluated by 10 people familiar with a sensory test of Stevia, and the results of averaged evaluation are shown in Table 10 below: Evaluation 5: Excellent, 4: Good, 3: Ordinary, 2: Bad, 1: Worst

TABLE 10 Subject matter of the sensory test 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) RA-A Extract 4.1 3.8 4.1 4.9 3.4 3.8 RA-A Crystal 5.0 4.9 4.9 3.2 4.9 4.9 BA-B Extract 4.2 3.8 4.1 4.9 3.5 3.7 RA-B Crystal 5.0 5.0 4.9 3.5 4.9 4.9 RA-C Extract 4.2 4.0 4.5 4.8 3.5 3.8 RA-C Crystal 5.0 5.0 5.0 3.8 5.0 5.0 ST Extract 1.2 1.3 1.2 4.0 2.0 2.0 ST-RA Crystal 4.8 4.6 4.6 3.0 4.8 4.3 1) Sweetness Quality 2) Taste remaining in the mouth 3) Astringency 4) Delicate taste 5) Refreshing feeling 6) Sweetness running out

The three types of RA Extract containing the Steviol Glycosides II to X (Rebaudioside G to O) are excellent in delicate taste compared to the three types of RA Crystals, but the RA Crystals are excellent in the other evaluations. Except for the delicate taste evaluation, the ST extract is inferior to the ST-RA Crystals. From this result, it is verified that the novel Steviol Glycosides II-X influence the delicate taste.

Example 7 Determination of Variety

According to the HPLC analysis of each extract and/or crystal, the extract obtained from the varieties containing RA as a main component (hereinafter Variety RA) includes more Rebaudioside D, and also include the Steviol Glycoside X (Rebaudioside O) compared with the extract obtained from the varieties containing ST as a main component (hereinafter Variety ST). Further it is found that the Steviol Glycoside X is also included in the RA crystals obtained by the purification of the extract of RA varieties, although trace amount.

On the other hand, there is no Steviol Glycoside X in the extract obtained from the ST varieties. Naturally the Steviol Glycoside X is not found out in the ST-RA crystals obtained from the ST varieties and it is therefore possible to confirm that the extract or the crystal is obtained from the RA variety, if the presence of Steviol Glycoside X is confirmed.

Example 8 Analytical Method of Steviol Glycoside

According to the HPLC condition described in Example 5, it is possible to confirm each Steviol Glycoside I-X. In principle, it is possible to confirm the presence of Steviol Glycoside from R.T. in the HPLC analytical chart, but each Steviol Glycoside I-X can be confirmed by measuring the molecular weight after preparative isolation of each Glycoside.

Example 9 Tabletop Sugar

1) Tabletop sugar was prepared by mixing 1 g of RA-A Crystals and 99 g of powder sugar.

2) Tabletop sugar was prepared by mixing 1 g of RA-B Crystals and 99 g of erythritol.

3) Tabletop sugar was prepared by mixing 1 g of RA-C Crystals and 99 g of high-fructose corn syrup.

Example 10 Candies

Candy was prepared from 0.3 g of RA-C extract, 100 g of palatinit and an appropriate volume of spices.

Example 11 Milk Jelly

Milk jelly was prepared form 15 g of sugar, 0.08 g of RA-B extract, 250 g of milk, 5 g of gelatin and an appropriate volume of milk flavor.

Example 12 Sports Drinks

Sports drink was prepared from 0.075% of RA-B Crystals, 0.11% of calcium lactate, 0.045% of citric acid, 0.03% of trisodium citrate, 0.015% of magnesium chloride, 0.0055% of glutamic acid and 99.72% of water.

Example 13 Carbonate Drinks

Carbonate drink was prepared by adding 0.012% of RA-B Crystals, 8.4% of fructose, 0.6% of citric acid, 0.12% of arginine, 0.1% of inositol, 0.0025% of caffeine, 0.0034% of calcium pantothenate, 0.003% of niacin amide, 0.002% of vitamin B6, 0.00009% of vitamin B2, 0.000002% of vitamin B12, and appropriate volumes of spices and water to adjust 100% of whole ingredients, and then introducing carbon dioxide gas.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

By HPLC analysis of the novel Steviol Glycosides provided by the present invention, it is possible to manufacture sweeteners and other foodstuff with a certain sweetness degree and quality, and delicate taste. Also it enables to presume the raw material varieties, and the invention is helpful to judge the correctness of indication of origin, cultivation area of the Stevia varieties, or infringement of right.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for the extract RA-C.

FIG. 2 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for Crystals RA-A.

FIG. 3 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for Crystals RA-B.

FIG. 4 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for Crystals RA-C.

FIG. 5 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for the extract RA-A.

FIG. 6 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for the extract RA-B.

FIG. 7 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for the extract RA-C.

FIG. 8 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for the extract ST.

FIG. 9 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for Crystals ST-ST.

FIG. 10 It shows the HPLC Analysis Chart for Crystals ST-RA. 

1.-7. (canceled)
 8. A method of manufacturing a sweetener comprising Steviol glycoside VIII (Rebaudioside M) of the formula:

wherein R₁ and R₂ represent sugar chains defined in the following table; No. R₁ R₂ VIII

the method comprising: obtaining a solution comprising the Steviol glycoside VIII, purifying the Steviol glycoside VIII, and formulating the sweetener with the Steviol glycoside VIII.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the solution comprises a larger amount of the Steviol glycoside VIII and Rebaudioside D than any other Steviol glycoside.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the purifying comprises separating the Steviol glycoside VIII from Rebaudioside D.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the sweetener comprises a larger amount of the Steviol glycoside VIII than any other Steviol glycoside.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the purifying comprises adsorbing the Steviol glycoside VIII to an adsorbant resin and eluting the Steviol glycoside VIII from the adsorbant resin.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the purifying comprises subjecting the solution to crystallization conditions.
 14. A method of preparing a food product, the method comprising manufacturing the sweetener according to the method of claim 8, and mixing the sweetener and a food to form the food product.
 15. The sweetener manufactured by the method of claim
 8. 16. A solution comprising Steviol glycoside VIII (Rebaudioside M) and Rebaudioside D, wherein the solution comprises a larger amount of the Steviol glycoside VIII (Rebaudioside M) and Rebaudioside D than any other Steviol glycoside wherein the Steviol glycoside VIII (Rebaudioside M) has the formula:

wherein R₁ and R₂ represent sugar chains defined in the following table No. R₁ R₂ VIII


17. A method of manufacturing a sweetener, the method comprising purifying or extracting the Steviol glycoside VIII from the solution of claim 16, and formulating the sweetener with the Steviol glycoside VIII.
 18. The sweetener manufactured by the method of claim
 17. 